18" high or 12" high terrarium?

[sachen]

Hi guys, so for a Leopard Gecko, I am looking at either this 36"W x 18"L x 12"H Exo Terra Terrarium or 36"W x 18"L x 18"H Zoo Med Terrarium.

Exo-Terra® Natural Terrarium Reptile Habitat | reptile Terrariums | PetSmart

Exo-Terra® Natural Terrarium Reptile Habitat at PetSmart. Shop all reptile terrariums online

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Zoo Med Naturalistic Front Opening Terrarium | reptile Terrariums | PetSmart

Zoo Med Naturalistic Front Opening Terrarium at PetSmart. Shop all reptile terrariums online

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Would 12 inches or 18 inches of height be better for a Leopard Gecko? The reason I am thinking about this is that I want to provide UVB for my Leo, and the Arcadia Shadedweller recommends about 12" of distance between the light and the reptile, and some of that is filtered out by the mesh anyways. I feel like 18" of height wouldn't provide strong enough UVB.

 

[acpart]

Since the leopard gecko is terrestrial, the 12" height should be fine.

Aliza

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

"Would 12 inches or 18 inches of height be better for a Leopard Gecko? The reason I am thinking about this is that I want to provide UVB for my Leo, and the Arcadia Shadedweller recommends about 12" of distance between the light and the reptile, and some of that is filtered out by the mesh anyways. I feel like 18" of height wouldn't provide strong enough UVB."

Hi Sachen ~
Current leopard gecko husbandry strongly recommends keeping 1 leopard gecko in a 36 x 18 x 18 inch tall enclosure with 4 inches of loose substrate composed of 70% fertilizer-free topsoil & 30% play sand. You could go naturalistic (without a cleanup crew of bugs) OR bioactive with a cleanup crew. Either way you can keep plants in the substrate or potted in their own pots. Keeping plants in their pots has the advantage of NOT disrupting the roots as the plants mature.

18 inches height with 4 inches substrate is ideal.
You'll want the 12 inch long Arcadia ShadeDweller linear tube & fixture. That should occupy 1/3 -1/2 the enclosure's length. Exo Terra's mesh blocks 35% of UVB rays. For heat & light use an overhead halogen bulb or a deep heat projector (80 watt). IF you use a DHP, a 15 watt incandescent bulb could provide the photoperiod.

Here are useful images.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Reptile Lighting Group's heating & lighting configurations:
l

Slate is an ideal stone for heat absorption.
Here's one idea:

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Exo Terra's mesh blocks 35% of UVB rays.
Reptile Lighting Group's 'Mesh % Block estimate' distance charts for Arcadia's ShadeDweller UVB tube:

https://tomaskas.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/ShadeDweller-Individual-Percentages.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2ZAH672_k-SqfX5fv5AKxUwR0TpBtCvgANpF5wvprozAG_vgE5bPyDQMw

 

[Digs]

I would go for 18” height, leopard geckos are very good climbers. I used to keep my gecko in a 55 gallon tank, which is 21” tall, and my gecko made me feel like even that wasn’t enough.